An Easter message from Rev. Dom Pachomius, OSB:

Dear sisters and brothers, He has risen, as he said. With these solemn words, the angel of the resurrection proclaimed the central tenet of our Christian faith. All the other doctrines of the Church and all the good works we do derive their significance from our faith in the resurrection of Christ. As Christians we view and interpret everything in its light.

From loss to new life

In our practical, daily life, Easter means experiencing the power of Jesus changing a tragedy, loss, failure or setback in our lives into a glorious new beginning. Take the disciples of Jesus. Before the great tragedy of Good Friday, Jesus was the person who gave meaning to their lives. They had pledged their lives to Jesus. They had put their dreams in Jesus. They had pinned their hopes on Jesus. Then came Good Friday. All those pledges and dreams and hopes got smashed into a million bits. With one terrible thrust of a soldier’s spear, all those pledges and dreams and hopes died on the cross with Jesus. When the sun went down on Good Friday, they too went down into the tomb with Jesus. It was all over.

Then it happened! As the sun rose on Easter Sunday morning, Jesus rose with it and appeared to His disciples. He was more radiant and more fully alive than they had ever seen him before. And at that moment the power of Easter began to work in the lives of the disciples. Suddenly they were transformed from a band of despairing men into a contingent of daring preachers. At the command of Jesus, they set out to carry the news of Easter to the four corners of the earth. And everywhere they preached, lives were changed. Beautiful things began to happen. Despair gave way to hope; darkness yielded to light; sorrow surrendered to joy; hatred succumbed to love.

The power of faith

From the first Easter proclamation, He has risen, as he said, its power has not stopped working miracles in the lives of people. These words have since resounded down the corridor of time.

This is our faith. On account of this faith, countless men, women and mere children have undergone torture and shed their blood in martyrdom. On account of this faith, apostles and missionaries have endured and continue to endure hardships and persecutions in order to spread the gospel. On account of this faith, men and women everywhere have left all things to follow Christ more closely in monastic and religious life and in the priesthood. On account of this faith, men and women bear patiently the difficulties of their state of life, in order to remain steadfast in their vocation as Christians.

Those miracles have not stopped yet. They continue to happen in our time. Indeed, it is happening right at this moment: each time we decide to love again after we’ve had our love rejected; or to trust again after we’ve had our trust betrayed; or to hope again after we’ve watched our hope flicker and die.

The key to meaning

The resurrection of Jesus gives meaning and direction to human history and to the story of each one of us. It is the key to understanding the contradictions of wealth and poverty, war and reconciliation, science and ignorance, freedom and oppression, and all the great and small events that make up our life. Remove this key and nothing will make sense. St. Paul tells us, If Christ has not been raised, preaching is in vain… If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… This is what Easter is all about. It is the good news that nothing can defeat us anymore – not discouragement, not pain, not misfortune, not even death. Jesus is victor! This is what we celebrate as we now prepare to break bread together on the birthday of our Christian faith.

He has risen, as he said. To Him be glory, honor and praise now and forever. Amen.